Obama Announcement on New E.P.A. Regs to Cut Carbon Emissions by 30 Percent

I posted on this yesterday, "Obama's Last Gasp on Global Warming."

Just wanted to remind folks of the president's promise to bankrupt the coal industry:

Let me sort of describe my overall policy.

What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.

That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.

The only thing I’ve said with respect to coal, I haven’t been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a ideological matter as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.  So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.

It’s just that it will bankrupt them.

More at Bloomberg, "Obama Said to Propose Deep Cuts to Power-Plant Emissions":

Plants that burn coal to generate electricity account for about 75 percent of all power-plant emissions. Coal, the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, provides about 40 percent of the U.S. power. While that’s down from about half, coal is remains the single largest source of electricity generation in the U.S.

The proposed rules are among policies “designed to drive out low-cost electricity and replace it with higher-cost, more expensive and less reliable electricity,” Hal Quinn, chief executive officer of the National Mining Association, said yesterday on ABC’s “This Week” program.

The EPA is counting on coal plants being operated more efficiently and states shifting to natural gas from coal to get modest cuts in the next four or five years, people familiar with it said. Each state will have a target based on its emissions, and in the next decade the overall electric grid will need to become more efficient and use renewable generation to achieve the reductions, they said.

“President Obama is right to take decisive action to combat this clear and present danger,” Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said by e-mail. “The proposed standards will limit -- for the first time in U.S. history -- the unrestricted pollution of our atmosphere by carbon dioxide.”

The Obama Paradox

A dishy piece from Carrie Budoff Brown and Jennifer Epstein, at Politico.

And at Twitchy, "Politico report: Coordination between White House and Congress ‘has never been better’."

And that goes for the relaxation, too:

Obama golfed in FL during Ukraine crisis. Told friends: “I needed this. I needed the golf. I needed to laugh." http://t.co/OGc95oHRzo

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) June 2, 2014

'We’re up against evil like I've never seen in my life...'

It's Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson, speaking at the Republican Leadership Conference, via the Blaze, "‘We’re Up Against Evil’: ‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Phil Robertson Blasts White House, Tells GOP to ‘Get Godly’."

The Case Against Obama's #Bergdahl Deal

Actually, I think by now we've heard the case against this monstrous, politically-expedient terror swap, but here's Ilya Somin, at Volokh Conspiracy, in any case, "The case against the Obama administration’s deal exchanging five high-ranking Taliban leaders for one captured US soldier [Updated]."

And ICYMI, "Uncle Jimbo on #BergdahlTraitor."

Fellow Soldiers Call Bowe #Bergdahl a Deserter, Not a Hero

From Jake Tapper, at CNN, via Louise Mensch:

Very surprised, but very encouraged, to see CNN actually reporting on the deeply squirrelly #BergdahlTraitor case http://t.co/XHG9iZ2m1c

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) June 2, 2014

The sense of pride expressed by officials of the Obama administration at the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is not shared by many of those who served with him -- veterans and soldiers who call him a deserter whose "selfish act" ended up costing the lives of better men.

"I was pissed off then and I am even more so now with everything going on," said former Sergeant Matt Vierkant, a member of Bergdahl's platoon when he went missing on June 30, 2009. "Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him."

Vierkant said Bergdahl needs to not only acknowledge his actions publicly but face a military trial for desertion under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

A reporter asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Sunday whether Bergdahl had left his post without permission or deserted -- and, if so, whether he would be punished. Hagel didn't answer directly. "Our first priority is assuring his well-being and his health and getting him reunited with his family," he said. "Other circumstances that may develop and questions, those will be dealt with later."

Following his release from five years of captivity in Afghanistan on Saturday, Bergdahl was transferred to a military hospital in Germany....

According to first-hand accounts from soldiers in his platoon, Bergdahl, while on guard duty, shed his weapons and walked off the observation post with nothing more than a compass, a knife, water, a digital camera, and a diary.

At least six soldiers were killed in subsequent searches for Bergdahl, and many soldiers in his platoon said attacks seemed to increase against the United States in Paktika Provice in the days and weeks following his disappearance.

Many of Bergdahl's fellow troops -- from the seven or so who knew him best in his squad, to the larger group that comprised the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division -- told CNN that they signed nondisclosure agreements agreeing to never share any information about Bergdahl's disappearance and the efforts to recapture him. Some were willing to dismiss that document in hopes that the truth would come out about a soldier who they now fear is being hailed as a hero, while the men who lost their lives looking for him are ignored.

Many are flocking to social media, such as the Facebook page "Bowe Bergdahl is NOT a hero," where they share stories detailing their resentment. A number of comments on his battalion's Facebook page prompted the moderator to ask for more respect to be shown.

"I challenge any one of you who label him a traitor to spend 5 years in captivity with the Taliban or Haqqani, then come back and accuse him again. Whatever his intent when he walked away or was captured, he has more than paid for it."

Emails reported by the late Michael Hastings in Rolling Stone in 2012 reveal what Bergdahl's fellow infantrymen learned within days of his disappearance: he told people that he no longer supported the U.S. effort in Afghanistan.

"The future is too good to waste on lies," Bowe wrote to his parents. "And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be American. The horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in. It is all revolting."

Bergdahl wrote to them, "I am sorry for everything. The horror that is America is disgusting."

CNN has not independently verified the authenticity of the emails.

More.

Rhian Sugden for Zoo Today

A lovely video, "Rhian Sugden's on-set teaser video!"

Added: "Rhian Sugden Archive - All of Her Strip Pictures and Videos Galleries!"

Photo Roundup #Rule5

At Theo's, "Pic Dump..."



BONUS: At 90 Miles From Tyranny, "Blogs With Rule 5 Links."

John McCain Questions Swap of 'Highest High-Risk People' for #BergdahlTraitor

At CBS News.

Trading With the Taliban — #Bergdahl

From the editors, at the Wall Street Journal:

The return of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl from the clutches of the Taliban is cause for relief for his family and all Americans. But there's no denying that the price of his recovery is high. The Obama Administration swapped five of the hardest cases at Guantanamo in a fashion that will encourage terrorists to kidnap more Americans to win the release of more prisoners.

This does not mean we agree with Republicans who say President Obama broke the law by failing to inform Congress 30 days in advance of the prisoner release from Gitmo. Presidential power is never stronger than in the role of Commander in Chief. Congress did not attempt to use its comparably strong power of the purse. Instead Congress's Gitmo language sought bluntly to constrain Mr. Obama's wartime decision-making.

This is unconstitutional, as the President averred in a statement at the time he signed the bill. That Mr. Obama—and his liberal friends—denounced George W. Bush for similar signing statements is one more antiterror irony of this Presidency. Readers should watch to see if the same politicians and newspapers that assailed Mr. Bush are more forgiving when their kind of President is using the same war powers.

The real problem with this prisoner swap is the message it conveys about American weakness, especially in the context of Mr. Obama's retreat from Afghanistan and elsewhere. The world's bad actors have long perceived that the U.S. doesn't negotiate over hostages, in contrast to, say, France or Italy. This has made American soldiers and civilians less promising targets.

The Taliban swap will change that perception and increase the likelihood that more Americans will be grabbed, not least in Kabul. Don't be surprised if 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed shows up on a list of future prisoner-swap demands...

Keep reading.

Uncle Jimbo on #BergdahlTraitor

I checked over there early this morning, and now here's this, at Black Five, "Big Problems With Bergdahl Deal":

The problems with the deal we made is not the worthiness of Bergdahl, but the price we paid and the timing of the deal. We are releasing five of the most heinous and senior Taliban leaders we ever captured. Men with the blood of hundreds of US troops on their hands who will spend the rest of their lives adding to that toll. They are unrepentant, barbarian killers and the Afghan people we are supposed to have been helping all these years will pay the price when these men rejoin the resurgent Taliban. We are packing our things and loading planes to come home and the Talibs have known this since Obama unveiled his faux surge at West Point in 2009. He announced more troops were coming and he announced that those same troops would be leaving prior to his next election campaign. The Taliban plays the long war and they knew they could wait us out and they did.

If you want to know just how bad these five are, go read this and then weep for the innocents who will pay the price for their discharge. All the prisoners we still hold at Gitmo are evil terrorists who will perpetrate more evil given the slightest opportunity. Well we just handed it to these five and they will use it to undo any semblance of good we did in Afghanistan. This is not just a possibility; it is the undeniable reality of the deal we made. There is also a good possibility that the Haqqani network, who were holding him, may have picked up a number of satchels full of cash in the exchange as well. They are essentially a crime syndicate and money talks with them. It is just not something we should be involved in doing, hence the Qataris involvement.

The next point is why now? This deal has been on the table for several years. The Taliban proposed it and we could have agreed to it at any point. Why let Bergdahl rot for years if this was an option? The simplest answer is that this is and was a horrible deal that never should have been made. As much as it pains me to say, the life of one American POW is not worth the certain deaths of the hundreds or thousands who will die at the hands of the scum we have just unleashed. Those are the tough decisions and calculations that the Commander in Chief should weigh. We cannot pay any cost to regain a prisoner, because some costs are just too high. This was one of those times.

Be sure to read the whole thing.

Can't wait for Bergdahl's trial.

'Collective Amnesia' in China 25 Years After Tiananmen Square Massacre

A great piece, at the Los Angeles Times, "Collective amnesia prevails in China 25 years after Tiananmen Square."

The Chinese Communist Party maintains a brutal regime, but economic development and the loosening of social restraints have "bought off" mass unrest.

Plus, a video at Telegraph UK, "Tiananmen Square massacre: Communist Party still dares not publish the truth."

Obama White House Defends #Bergdahl Prisoner Exchange

At the New York Times, "Administration Defends Swap With Taliban to Free U.S. Soldier":

WASHINGTON — Top Obama administration officials pushed back on Sunday against Republican criticism that a deal freeing the last American held prisoner in Afghanistan could allow dangerous Taliban leaders to return to the fight, might encourage terrorist groups to seize American hostages and possibly violated a law requiring notification of Congress.

Susan E. Rice, the president’s national security adviser, spoke a day after years of fitful negotiations had finally yielded the release in Afghanistan of the prisoner, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The deal, brokered with Qatari help, also freed five high-level Taliban members from the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The release of the Taliban officials was sharply assailed by Republicans, including Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan, chairman of the intelligence committee, as a dangerous transgression of longstanding policy against negotiating with terror groups.

“If you negotiate here, you’ve sent a message to every Al Qaeda group in the world — by the way, some who are holding U.S. hostages today — that there is some value now in that hostage in a way that they didn’t have before,” Mr. Rogers said on the CNN program “State of the Union.” He added, “That is dangerous.”

More.

Susan Rice at ABC News is here, "Ambassador Susan Rice on Release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl."

And previously, "Rep. Mike Rogers on #Bergdahl: 'We Have Now Set a Price' on American Lives (VIDEO)."

Bras Are Optional

At Social Hype, "(40 Sensational Pictures)." (Via Linkiest.)

BONUS: At the Other McCain, "Rule 5 Sunday: Pre-Vegas Review," and at Pirate's, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup."

Obama's Last Gasp on Global Warming

We had negative 1 percent economic growth in the first quarter, but damned if destroying the economy isn't the last thing he does.

At the Los Angeles Times, "New EPA rule seeks to cut carbon emissions 30% by 2030."

And at the New York Times, "Using Executive Powers, Obama Begins His Last Big Push on Climate Policy":

WASHINGTON — All but giving up on Congress, President Obama has spent the year foraging for issues he could tackle on his own, and largely coming up with minor executive orders. But on Monday, he will unveil a plan to take on climate change that may be his last, most sweeping effort to remake America in his remaining time in office...

Remembering D-Day: The Most Brilliantly Conducted Invasion in Military History

From VDH, at National Review, "D-Day at 70":

Seventy years ago this June 6, the Americans, British, and Canadians stormed the beaches of Normandy in the largest amphibious invasion of Europe since the Persian king Xerxes invaded Greece in 480 b.c.

About 160,000 troops landed on five Normandy beaches and linked up with airborne troops in a masterly display of planning and courage. Within a month, almost a million Allied troops had landed in France and were heading eastward toward the German border. Within eleven months the war with Germany was over.

The western front required the diversion of hundreds of thousands of German troops. It weakened Nazi resistance to the Russians while robbing the Third Reich of its valuable occupied European territory.

The impatient and long-suffering Russians had demanded of their allies a second front commensurate with their own sacrifices. Their Herculean efforts by war’s end would account for two out of every three dead German soldiers — at a cost of 20 million Russian civilian and military casualties.

Yet for all the sacrifices of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin was largely responsible for his war with Nazi Germany. In 1939, he signed a foolish non-aggression pact with Hitler that allowed the Nazis to gobble up Western democracies. Hitler’s Panzers were aided by Russians in Poland and overran Western Europe fueled by supplies from the Soviets.

The Western Allies had hardly been idle before D-Day. They had taken North Africa and Sicily from the Germans and Italians. They were bogged down in brutal fighting in Italy. The Western Allies and China fought the Japanese in the Pacific, Burma, and China.

The U.S. and the British Empire fought almost everywhere. They waged a multiform war on and under the seas. They eventually destroyed Japanese and German heavy industry with a costly and controversial strategic-bombing campaign.

The Allies sent friends such as the Russians and Chinese billions of dollars worth of food and war matériel.

In sum, while Russia bore the brunt of the German land war, the Western Allies fought all three Axis powers everywhere else and in every conceivable fashion.

Yet if D-Day was brilliantly planned and executed, the follow-up advance through France in June 1944 was not always so...

A whole 'nother era.

More at the link.

Rep. Mike Rogers on #Bergdahl: 'We Have Now Set a Price' on American Lives (VIDEO)

Via Free Beacon, "Mike Rogers on Negotiating for Soldier's Release: 'We Have Now Set a Price'."

Special Forces Arranged #Bergdahl Release Directly with Taliban

At the Washington Post, "Hagel discusses details of U.S. operation to exchange Taliban detainees for captive soldier."

Hats off to U.S. forces performing their duty admirably.

Taliban 'IEDs Started Being Placed More Effectively' After Bowe #Bergdahl Desertion

Be sure to click through at this tweet from Louise Mensch:

Some bad stuff going on with #Bergdahl, his father and Obama. Will come out sooner rather than later, I expect. http://t.co/XnrglKlsuD
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) June 1, 2014

Take a look especially at CodyFNfootball's timeline:

IEDs started being placed more effectively in the coming weeks. Ambushes were more calculated, cover and concealment was used
— _ (@CodyFNfootball) June 1, 2014

PREVIOUSLY: "U.S. Special Forces Back Channel Account on Bowe Bergdahl Desertion."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES," and Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Operation Enduring Weakness."

Still more at Theo's, "Cartoon Roundup," and "From Director Blue................... ERIC CANTOR: Brazenly Lying to the People of Virginia in order to Cram Amnesty Down Our Throats."

Obama Knows He Can Ignore Scandal with Impunity — #Impeachment

From Andrew McCarthy, at the New York Post:

Facts suggest vets delayed own tests to make Obama look bad http://t.co/sR4pmY8Tzf #TCOT pic.twitter.com/6LmnjWcKOM
— The People's Cube (@ThePeoplesCube) May 30, 2014

President Obama’s record of lawlessness is prodigious. There is the assumption of a power to rule by presidential decree — unilaterally amending ObamaCare provisions, immigration statutes, and other enactments in flagrant disregard of Congress’s constitutional power to write the laws.

There is rampant fraud on the American people — think: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan, period,” just for a start. In the Benghazi massacre, we see the arc of administration malfeasance: In the absence of congressional authorization, the president instigated an unprovoked and ultimately disastrous war in Libya, empowering virulently anti-American Islamic supremacists.

He then recklessly failed to provide adequate security for US officials who, for reasons that remain mysterious, were dispatched to Benghazi, one of the most dangerous places on the planet for Americans.

Finally, when four Americans including our ambassador were predictably killed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2012, the president took no action to rescue them during the siege and then led a tireless campaign to blame an anti-Muslim video, rather than his wayward policy of empowering Islamists — even trumping up a prosecution against the video producer in violation of the First Amendment.

Making recess appointments when the Senate is not in recess.

Ignoring court orders. Refusing to enforce the immigration laws.

A Justice Department run amok: politicized prosecution, racially discriminatory enforcement of the civil rights laws, and Fast & Furious — a program that intentionally transferred thousands of guns to Mexican criminal gangs, resulting in the murder of a US border patrol agent.

The list goes on. In fact, Obama’s behavior would easily satisfy the Constitution’s standard for removing a president from power...

Lots more.

Guantánamo Terrorists Arrive in Taliban Headquarters in Qatar

From Debra Burlingame:

Breaking: Taliban leaders released from GITMO arrive at Qatar Taliban office. Good job, Barack! Here are the guys who won't be coming home: PFC Matthew Michael Martinek, Staff Sgt. Kurt Robert Curtiss, SSG Clayton Bowen, PFC Morris Walker, SSG Michael Murphrey, 2LT Darryn Andrews, were all KIA from Bergdahl's unit who died looking for him.

Added: From Long War Journal, "Mullah Omar hails release of 5 top Taliban commanders as 'great victory'."



PREVIOUSLY: "U.S. Special Forces Back Channel Account on Bowe Bergdahl Desertion."

U.S. Special Forces Back Channel Account on Bowe Bergdahl Desertion

From Stormbringer, "PRISONER EXCHANGE: U.S. soldier Bergdahl freed from captivity in Afghanistan":

Forwarded from the secret Special Forces unauthorized back channel frequency:

"We were at OP Mest, Paktika Province, Afghanistan. It was a small outpost where B Co 1-501st INF (Airbone) ran operations out of, just an Infantry platoon and ANA counterparts there. The place was an Afghan graveyard. Bergdahl had been acting a little strange, telling people he wanted to "walk the earth" and kept a little journal talking about how he was meant for better things. No one thought anything about it. He was a little “out there”. Next morning he's gone. We search everywhere, and can't find him. He left his weapon, his kit, and other sensitive items. He only took some water, a compass and a knife. We find some afghan kids shortly after who saw an american walking north asking about where the taliban are. We get hits on our voice intercepter that Taliban has him, and we were close. We come to realize that the kid deserted his post, snuck out of camp and sought out Taliban… to join them. We were in a defensive position at OP Mest, where your focus is to keep people out. He knew where the blind spots were to slip out and that's what he did. It was supposed to be a 4-day mission but turned into several months of active searching. Everyone was spun up to find this guy. News outlets all over the country were putting out false information. It was hard to see, especially when we knew the truth about what happened and we lost good men trying to find him. PFC Matthew Michael Martinek, Staff Sgt. Kurt Robert Curtiss, SSG Clayton Bowen, PFC Morris Walker, SSG Michael Murphrey, 2LT Darryn Andrews, were all KIA from our unit who died looking for Bergdahl. Many others from various units were wounded or killed while actively looking for Bergdahl. Fighting Increased. IEDs and enemy ambushes increased. The Taliban knew that we were looking for him in high numbers and our movements were predictable. Because of Bergdahl, more men were out in danger, and more attacks on friendly camps and positions were conducted while we were out looking for him. His actions impacted the region more than anyone wants to admit. There is also no way to know what he told the Taliban: Our movements, locations, tactics, weak points on vehicles and other things for the enemy to exploit are just a few possibilities. The Government knows full well that he deserted. It looks bad and is a good propaganda piece for the Taliban. They refuse to acknowledge it. Hell they even promoted him to Sergeant which makes me sick. I feel for his family who only want their son/brother back. They don’t know the truth, or refuse to acknowledge it as well. What he did affected his family and his whole town back home, who don’t know the truth. Either way what matters is that good men died because of him. He has been lying on all those Taliban videos about everything since his “capture”. If he ever returns, he should be tried under the UCMJ for being a deserter and judged for what he did. Bergdahl is not a hero, he is not a soldier or an Infantryman. He failed his brothers. Now, sons and daughters are growing up without their fathers who died for him and he will have to face that truth someday."

And be sure to read the comments at the post.

More at Michelle Malkin, "Flashback: A reminder about Bowe Bergdahl’s desertion problem."

Also from Lieutenant Colonel Allan West, "Amidst celebrations for Bergdahl’s release, some unsettling questions, and This Ain't Hell, "The military reaction to Bergdahl is not charitable":

I suspect that Bergdahl is a stank-ass hippie who accidentally joined the Army and decided to smell some Afghan flowers one night. I have no doubts that he thought that the Taliban or Haqqani Network would welcome him open arms, you know because of his inherent stank-ass hippie naivete. I have no doubts that he tried to escape from them at some point because, he escaped from the Army when things weren't what he thought they’d be.

I also think that Shinseki resigned, along with Jay Carney yesterday because they knew the news would be swallowed up by the news that Bergdahl was released – I’m sure the news on tomorrow’s Sunday shows will be about the release of Bergdahl and how the President pulled off this great victory, and it will all be an attempt to cover up the scandals which are legion. By Monday, there will be no scandal about the VA – because Shinseki resigned and because “Bergdahl!”

And, oh, yeah, Bergdahl will be treated as a hero instead of the little coward deserter that he is. If he makes it to a court martial, he’ll get slapped on the wrist, get an honorable discharge and go on his merry way to co-write a book.

PREVIOUSLY: "Backlash as Bowe #Bergdahl Swapped for Top Five Taliban Commanders at Guantánamo."

Obama's Afghanistan Withdrawal Announcement Tied to Release of Bowe #Bergdahl

From Josh Rogin, at the Daily Beast.

Yes, the troop withdrawal announcement was related to the release of Bowe #Bergdahl http://t.co/z0YV5RNtQy

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) May 31, 2014

Click through at the link. The White House wanted "proof of life" in order to continue troop pullout negotiations with the government in Afghanistan, to help pave the way for latter's "reconciliation" with the Taliban.

Syria Suicide Bomber Moner Mohammad Abusalha ID'd as American From Florida

Gateway Pundit had this on Friday, "Moner Mohammad Abusalha From Florida ID’d as American Suicide Bomber in Syria."

And now at the Wall Street Journal, "From Florida Boy to Alleged Suicide Bomber in Syria: Acquaintances Describe Moner Abu-Salha as Friendly, Sociable Young Man":

VERO BEACH, Fla.—Years before he became an alleged suicide bomber in Syria, Moner Abu-Salha was known as a friendly, sociable young man in a tidy, gated neighborhood, here where he grew up. "He was a normal, everyday kid," said Mark Hill, who lives across the street from Mr. Abu-Salha's parents. "He was very pleasant, very polite."

It is a starkly different picture from the one U.S. officials painted on Friday, saying Mr. Abu-Salha was believed to be the first American to carry out a suicide bomb attack in the Syrian civil war. Officials gave his name, saying they had more than one spelling of it, and said he was believed to have died in a truck-bomb explosion last weekend. He was 22 years old, according to public records.

A number of attempts to contact Mr. Abu-Salha's family members failed. At the single-story house where neighbors said Mr. Abu-Salha's family lived, a woman declined to open the door and said, "No comment, no comment."

Neighbors, friends and acquaintances said Saturday they were shocked at the idea that the affable boy they once knew could have turned so extreme. But some said in recent years he had changed, adopting a more religious posture.

Mr. Abu-Salha, whose father was from Jordan and whose mother was an American who converted to Islam, grew up in an observant Muslim household, said Jessica Miller, a friend of Mr. Abu-Salha's younger sister. The father—who has owned grocery stores, according to public records—was strict and expected to have dinner ready and the house in order when he returned from work, she said. Mr. Abu-Salha and his wife are still partial owners of the Al-Noor Grocery Inc. in Melbourne, Fla., according to a woman who answered the phone there. She declined to comment further...

Continue reading.

VIDEO: "Suicide Bombing Carried Out by American."

Robert Bergdahl's #Taliban Tweets: Allāhu Akbar!

Freakin' a, this whole story gets more bizarre by the minute.

At Sooper Mexican, "Father of American Soldier Freed From Taliban Deletes a Very Disturbing Tweet."

Also at Twitchy, "‘Working to free all Guantanamo prisoners’ tweet from account of released soldier’s father deleted."

And Atlas Shrugs, "AWOL Traitor Traded for Taliban Terrorists: “In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful,’’ AWOL soldier’s dad said in Arabic."

Bob Bergdahl's "I am still working to free all Guantanamo prisoners" tweet is down the memory hole, but Allāhu Akbar!

To every single person who worked so hard to make this recovery possible, WE LOVE YOU! GOD IS GREAT AND HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER!

— Robert Bergdahl (@bobbergdahl) May 31, 2014

Man, that's must have been some brilliant trade. An AWOL deserting traitor son swapped for five of the top Taliban al-Qaeda held at Guantanamo. It's a f-kng coup! Penetrating the Manchurian presidency!

More at Sooper, "American Soldier Who Served With Bowe Bergdahl Casts Doubt on Official Story; Fears Reprisal From Obama Administration."

SpaceX Unveils Sleek Reusable Dragon V2 Capsule

At Instapundit, "Just in time..."

FEMEN Anti-Fascist Protesters in France

Well, these ladies are a relief compared to the monstrous #YesAllWomen feminists.

At WWTDD, "FEMEN Protesters Frenched Up."

And video at Live Leak, "France: FEMEN nurses protest far-right Le Pen's vote."

BONUS: ICYMI, my earlier entries on European Parliament Elections.

Backlash as Bowe #Bergdahl Swapped for Top Five Taliban Commanders at Guantánamo

Following-up from earlier, "Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Freed in Prisoner Swap With the Taliban."

And thinking of the controversy over Israel's prisoner exchanges of recent years, I was expecting a backlash with the Bowe deal. And here it comes.

At the Washington Post, "Bergdahl release arrangement could threaten the safety of Americans, Republicans say" (via Memeorandum).

Also at Pat Dollard, "EXPOSED: Obama Released the Five Most Dangerous Taliban Commanders In Captivity for Deadly, Self-Serving PR Stunt."

And at Patterico's, "L.A. Times Celebrates Trade of Five Taliban GTMO Detainees for U.S. Soldier — Without Telling You Who Those Detainees Are," and the Daily Beast, "Here are the Taliban Terrorists Obama Released to Free POW Bowe Bergdahl."

Still more at Long War Journal, "Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl exchanged for top 5 Taliban commanders at Gitmo."

Take a close look America, these 5 will be involved in the killing of Americans, courtesy of Barack Hussein Obama. pic.twitter.com/LDvE0xo39I

— Bob Sakuta (@meandmorningjoe) May 31, 2014

Bowe's disappearance was questionable at the time. Not only was he suspected of walking off base, abandoning his position, he dissed the American command in emails to his parents. CBS News has that, from 2012, "Bowe Bergdahl, U.S. soldier held by Taliban, was 'ashamed to be American,' emails show." Mentioned there is Rolling Stone's article from that year, by the late Michael Hastings, "America's Last Prisoner of War, which included the key email passages:

Over the next month, as he saw more of the war firsthand, Bowe's e-mails to his family lost their sense of absurdity and took on a darker edge. In one heartbreaking incident at the end of May, an Afghan official and four of his children were killed in a Taliban attack. The bodies were moved to Bowe's outpost, along with a wounded Afghan police officer....

Then, on June 25th, Bowe's battalion suffered its first casualty of the deployment. A popular officer, 1st Lt. Brian Bradshaw, was killed in a blast from a roadside bomb near the village of Yaya Kheyl, not far from the outpost. Though Bradshaw was in a different company, the 24-year-old's death rocked the unit, shattering the sense of invulnerability that accompanies those who have just arrived in country. Bowe's father believes that Bradshaw and Bowe had grown close at the National Training Center, and his death darkened his son's mood. It was all too much for Bowe. On June 27th, he sent what would be his final e-mai­[l] to his parents. It was a lengthy message documenting his complete disillusionment with the war effort. He opened it by addressing it simply to "mom, dad."

"The future is too good to waste on lies," Bowe wrote. "And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be american. The horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in. It is all revolting." The e-mail went on to list a series of complaints: Three good sergeants, Bowe said, had been forced to move to another company, and "one of the biggest shit bags is being put in charge of the team." His battalion commander was a "conceited old fool." The military system itself was broken: "In the US army you are cut down for being honest... but if you are a conceited brown nosing shit bag you will be allowed to do what ever you want, and you will be handed your higher rank...

The system is wrong. I am ashamed to be an american. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools." The soldiers he actually admired were planning on leaving: "The US army is the biggest joke the world has to laugh at. It is the army of liars, backstabbers, fools, and bullies. The few good SGTs are getting out as soon as they can, and they are telling us privates to do the same."

Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters minced no words in 2009, calling Bowe a bald-face liar, and suggested that "the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills" if they went ahead and killed Bowe:

Google's 'Right to Be Forgotten' Form Gets Over 12,000 Requests on First Day

Well, too bad this is only available in Europe. I know a couple of depraved hate-trolls who'd love to complete the form.

At the Wall Street Journal, "On Day 1 of European Take-Down Site, Google Hit by Wave of Requests."

And at Re/Code, "Begrudgingly, Google Offers a Form for People Who Want to Be Forgotten."

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Freed in Prisoner Swap With the Taliban

My god what a story!

At the New York Times, "U.S. Soldier Freed by Taliban in Trade: 5 Prisoners Swapped for P.O.W. Held in Afghanistan" (at Memeorandum):

WASHINGTON — The lone American prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict, captured by insurgents nearly five years ago, has been released to American forces in exchange for five Taliban prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Obama administration officials said Saturday.

The soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, was handed over to American Special Operations troops inside Afghanistan near the Pakistan border about 10:30 a.m. Saturday in a tense but uneventful exchange with 18 Taliban officials, American officials said. Moments later, Sergeant Bergdahl was whisked away by the helicopter-borne commandos, American officials said. He was found in good condition and able to walk.

The five Taliban detainees at Guantánamo, including two senior militant commanders said to be implicated in murdering thousands of Shiites in Afghanistan, were being transferred to the custody of officials from Qatar, who will accompany them back to that Persian Gulf state, where they will be subject to security restrictions, including a one-year travel ban.

More.

Plus at IJR, "Breaking: America Negotiates With Terrorists to Have Last American Prisoner Released by Taliban."

FLASHBACK: "FULL VIDEO: Captured by the Taliban, US Soldier Bowe R. Bergdahl Speaks."

Obama Blows Baghdad Jay Carney Goodbye Kiss!

Shoot, I missed this in my earlier report!

He freakin' puckers up and blows him a pretty boy smooch.

Unbefreakin'lievable!

At BizPac Review, "President Obama blows Jay Carney goodbye kiss: ‘Can’t un-see this!’"

Obama gives Jay Carney an extra special goodbye: https://t.co/pSSfDOZYfU
— Michael Deppisch (@deppisch) May 30, 2014

@deppisch WTF was that? No man does that! I said MAN! EEEEEEW! Hey #msnbc there is a story! Oh nevermind,little Jay's is headed on over!

— penny green (@penne59) May 31, 2014

CNN Correspondent Ivan Watson Arrested While Reporting Live in Istanbul, Turkey

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Turkey: CNN reporter detained by police on air."

Jessica Simpson Amps Up Workouts with 'Six Miles a Day' on Treadmill

Following up from yesterday, here's more Jessica Simpson Rule 5 goodness.

At London's Daily Mail, "Slim Jessica Simpson amps up usual workout to include 'six miles a day' on treadmill to prepare for July 4th wedding."

She's an awesome babe.

pic.twitter.com/OIO3qZGpWc
— Jessica Simpson (@JessicaSimpson) May 27, 2014

Indiana University's Parker Mantell Delivers Awesome Commencement Speech

He's a political science major and an awesome inspiration.

And he interned with Republicans holla!

At College Insurrection, "Indiana University Student With Stutter Wows Crowd With Commencement Speech."

Watch that standing ovation!

Parents Read Vet Son's Suicide Note On Air: CNN Anchor Breaks Down

It's Brooke Baldwin breaking down after parents Howard and Jean Somers read their son Daniel's note.

Background at WaPo, "Daniel Somers’s suicide, his family has a new mission: Improve VA services."

Via Conservative Hideout.



Also, ICYMI, "Why the Troops Diss Obama."

'Sex is a biological reality, and it is not subordinate to subjective impressions, no matter how intense those impressions are, how sincerely they are held, or how painful they make facing the biological facts of life. No hormone injection or surgical mutilation is sufficient to change that...'

From Kevin Williamson, at National Review, "Laverne Cox Is Not a Woman":

The trans self-conception, if the autobiographical literature is any guide, is partly a feeling that one should be living one’s life as a member of the opposite sex and partly a delusion that one is in fact a member of the opposite sex at some level of reality that transcends the biological facts in question. There are many possible therapeutic responses to that condition, but the offer to amputate healthy organs in the service of a delusional tendency is the moral equivalent of meeting a man who believes he is Jesus and inquiring as to whether his insurance plan covers crucifixion.

This seems to me a very different sort of phenomenon from simple homosexuality (though, for the record, I believe that our neat little categories of sexual orientation are yet another substitution of the conceptual for the actual, human sexual behavior being more complex and varied than the rhetoric of sexual orientation can accommodate). The question of the status of gay people interacts with politics to the extent that it in some cases challenges existing family law, but homosexual acts as such seem to me a matter that is obviously, and almost by definition, private. The mass delusion that we are inculcating on the question of transgendered people is a different sort of matter, to the extent that it would impose on society at large an obligation — possibly a legal obligation under civil-rights law, one that already is emerging — to treat delusion as fact, or at the very least to agree to make subjective impressions superordinate to biological fact in matters both public and private.

Background at Boing Boing, "Transgender tipping point: Laverne Cox on the cover of TIME."

French Riot Police Clear Calais 'Jungle' and Bulldoze Filth-Ridden Tent Camp for Muslim Illegal Aliens

At BNI, "FRENCH ELECTIONS do have consequences as riot police storm the Calais ‘jungle’ and bulldoze the filth-ridden tent camp for Muslim illegal aliens":

Wow!  That was fast.  Not even a week has passed since the European Union was turned on its head by a stunning victory for immigration control candidates in EU parliamentary elections.

Why the Troops Diss Obama

Recall from yesterday, "Watch How Vastly Different West Point Cadets React Between Hearing Presidents Obama and Bush."

In a Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation poll out last month, just 32 percent of Afghanistan and Iraq veterans approved of how well President Obama "is handling his job as president." Just 42 percent consider Obama "a good commander-in-chief of the military." In contrast, when asked if George W. Bush "was he a good commander-in-chief of the military," two-thirds of respondents (65 percent) agreed that he was.

See, "After the Wars - Post-Kaiser survey of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans."

And FWIW, see the discussion from Rajiv Chandrasekaran, "After the Wars: A Legacy of Pain and Pride." It's a beefy discussion, but one thing that sticks out is the mediocre medical care veterans say they receive from the Veterans Administration, which rings with particular resonance considering the Obama administration's VA scandal.

As for the huge gap between troop respect for President Bush versus President Obama, see former Army Lieutenant Colonel Alan West, "Blame Bush: Why Obama gets so little respect from the troops":

What civilians fail to realize is that we join the military to serve, realizing that the rigors of combat and privation are a part of that service, sacrifice, and commitment. We're not looking for someone “posing” as a leader who uses us as political pawns and gives away the hard-earned gains we've achieved. What troops want are leaders who are principled and will stand and have heartfelt sorrow when one of our brothers or sisters gives that last full measure of devotion.

What we see happening to our military under the Obama administration is unconscionable. The cutting of benefits to those serving, have served, and their families is disturbing. To have a Secretary of Defense step forward and announce we are cutting our military capability and capacity at a time when the world is far more volatile is perplexing.

To hear President Obama come out and say that we are war weary? When in the heck has he put on combat gear and humped on a patrol or spent years deployed?

Real combat troops don’t look for a fight, but when a fight comes their way, they want to win. And they expect leadership that will stand with them seeking victory, not retreat, masked as some insidious political campaign promise...

More.

I think the troops also genuinely respect a president who articulates and embodies American exceptionalism, like President Bush. (And President Obama, not so much.)

Exene Cervenka Issues Apology for Santa Barbara 'Hoax' Remarks — #UCSB

At KROQ:

thanks people for your support. i learned my lesson. no more opinions & i am shutting the fuck up, media wins. hatred is scary.

— Exene Cervenka (@exenecervenka) May 30, 2014

Days after making comments on her Twitter account referring to last weekend’s Santa Barbara shootings as a “hoax,” Exene Cervenka took to another social media channel to air her apology.

In a post on her band X‘s Facebook, the singer apologized for using the word “hoax” to describe the Elliot Rodger shootings, which left seven dead and 13 others injured.

“I want to apologize for using the word ‘hoax’ in a comment I made on social media,” she wrote. “I realize people have died in these violent events and we have all experienced that in our own lives. No one wants anyone else to ever have to go through that.” However, she didn’t exactly back down from one source in particular: the media as a whole.

“The point I am always trying to make is that we need to start thinking critically, looking past the headlines at all available information and make an informed opinion,” Cervenka continued.

“My issue is with the media’s coverage of events that will shape our public policy and laws for generations to come. We all need to be involved in that debate but we cannot contribute unless we have accurate truthful and complete information about what happened at any of these events.”

Also at the O.C. Register, "L.A. punk legends X to revisit their past."

Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love'

At WSJ, "The Making of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love'":

In late 1968, Led Zeppelin began pioneering a heavier, more metallic-sounding form of rock geared for FM radio's new album-oriented stereo format. By combining a slashing electric guitar and wailing vocals with a rhythmic bass and locomotive drums, the band quickly became the darlings of better stereo systems and large indoor arenas—and inspired several generations of metal-driven rockers.

When "Whole Lotta Love" was released in October 1969, it appeared first on "Led Zeppelin II," the band's second album, and then as a single weeks later—with a shorter edit for AM radio. While the single reached No. 4 on Billboard's pop chart, the album shot to No. 1 in November, and a three-month battle with the Beatles' "Abbey Road" for the top spot ensued.

With the reissue of Led Zeppelin's first three albums on Tuesday by Atlantic Records, guitarist Jimmy Page, 70, recording engineer George Chkiantz, 70, and final-mix engineer Eddie Kramer, 71, reflected on how the famed guitar riff evolved, why the voice of lead vocalist Robert Plant pre-echoes on the recording and how a 1985 lawsuit by blues artist Willie Dixon resulted in a co-songwriter credit for "Whole Lotta Love." (Mr. Plant, who opposes a reunion tour, and bassist John Paul Jones declined to be interviewed.) Edited from conversations...

More.

And at Ultimate Classic Rock, "Led Zeppelin Release New ‘Whole Lotta Love’ Video." [Seen above.]

PREVIOUSLY: "'You need coolin', baby, I'm not foolin' .... I'm gonna send ya back to schoolin'...'"

Lance Stephenson Slaps LeBron James

At SB Nation, "Lance Stephenson is at it again."

On Twitter, "Lance Stephenson loves to smack that."

And YouTube, "Lance Stephenson touches LeBron's mouth, LeBron gets angry (Game 6, ECF 2014)."

National September 11 Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center

Photographs, at the Big Picture, "The National September 11 Memorial Museum."

Also, an architectural review, from Christopher Hawthorne, at the Los Angeles Times, "Architecture review: At 9/11 Memorial Museum, a relentless literalism":

Many New Yorkers, still trying to make sense of the 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center, have had a single question as a museum was being built at ground zero: Too soon?

Now that the 9/11 Memorial Museum, as it's officially called, has opened to the public, they and others may find themselves asking something else: Too much?

The museum is an overstuffed answer to the appealing minimalism of the 9/11 memorial and its cascading pools, which opened in 2011.

It extends deep below the memorial in a series of cavernous, hangar-like rooms. Its galleries contain crushed fire trucks, mangled steel, multimedia displays, a torn seatbelt from one of the airplanes that hit the towers, clothing and bicycles covered with ash from their collapse, photographs, architectural models and literally thousands of other pieces of dark memorabilia.

The intensity, scope and sheer unrelenting literalism of this approach marks a significant change in how we choose to mark national trauma. No longer do we see memorials as capable of commemorating an entire war or attack on their own.

Keep reading.

Obama's Foreign Policy: A Somber Parade of Straw Men and Emptiness

From Charles Krauthammer, at WaPo, "Emptiness at West Point":

As with the West Point speech itself, as with the president’s entire foreign policy of retreat, one can only marvel at the smallness of it all.

Obama Done-In by His Own Bureaucratic Incompetence

From Gloria Borger, at CNN, "Obama defeated by his own bureaucracy":

When Barack Obama was a newbie president, there was no shortage of ambition or lack of confidence in the government he was about to lead. Government should be seen as a force for good, not evil. Sure, he told us, it needed to be "smarter and better," but that could—and would—happen under his watch.

Never mind that Bill Clinton spent years "reinventing government" with mixed success. Or that only 2% of the American public believes that government can be trusted to do the right thing all the time. President Obama was convinced he could change all that with programs that would deliver for America—such as health care reform—and the public would be grateful.

Instead, the President is living his own version of "Alice Through the Looking Glass": staring down a rabbit hole of government bureaucracy and inefficiency. The government he has studiously tried to grow, manage and change has become his own personal nemesis. All of which makes you wonder: Does the President himself trust government anymore?

More.

Also from Peter Wehner, at Commentary, "Obama Hopelessly Out of His Depth."

South African-Born Actress Charlize Theron Says Press Intrusion Just 'Like Rape'

Oh brother.

At London's Daily Mail, "Just 'Like Rape' Outrage after Oscar winner Charlize Theron compares press intrusion to RAPE during interview to promote her new film days after Gwyneth compared online abuse to war."

YouTube video, "Charlize Theron: Press Intrusion 'Like Rape'."

Speaking of whom, "Gwyneth sparks ridicule by claiming online criticism is like real-life warfare."

Jessica Simpson Friday #Rule5 Roundup

Ms. Simpson's been out of the Rule 5 action for awhile, what, with all the baby-making and so forth

But now at London's Daily Mail, "Ready for her Daisy Dukes! Svelte Jessica Simpson shows off her super toned legs out on date night with fiance Eric Johnson."

More at Daley Gator, "DALEYGATOR DALEYBABE KATYA SANCHEZ."

Odie has, "Blondishnessnesser ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart: Nikki Leigh."

At Classy Bro, "Beautiful Girls in Tight Dresses… Need We Say More?"

The Hostages, "Big Boog Friday."

More at the Last Tradition, "Rule 5 Sunday – Coco Austin actress, model, Pin Up of the 2000s."

And from Proof Positive, "Friday Night Babe Tonight's FNB* is Jennifer Lawrence!"

At Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is a wonderful carbon friendly bike which Everyone Else should be forced to ride, you might just be a Warmist."

 In a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World has the "Friday Pinup."

Also at Reaganite, "'Miss São Tomé and Príncipe 2013' is  Djeissica Barbosa Hamilton Ivna Farinha Cassandra."

At Knuckledraggin', "Kissing Breasts on a Motorboat."

And Dana Pico, "Rule 5 Blogging: the Big Red One!"

Here's some hotness for Egotastic!, "Thank God It’s Funbags! Yara Khmidan Pool Shoot Is Wet and Hot and Just Udderly Amazing."

At 90 Miles From Tyranny, "Morning Mistress - Nordic Goddess."

Still more from Wine, Women and Politics, "Sunday Baby Dolls."

And at Coed, "Get excited, it’s Hump Day! (37 Photos)," and "THE 30 HOTTEST WAGS TO WATCH AT THE WORLD CUP 2014 [PHOTOS]."

At Doubletroubletwo, "Sexy Reds."

BONUS: At Soylent, "Yeah...I'll See This Movie."

Undocumented Families in Milwaukee: Illegal Immigration 'Not a Crime'

My college is roughly 50 percent Hispanic, and when students write their semester news analysis notebooks, the view that illegal immigration is just "immigration" is almost uniform among that demographic. Virtually all of my Latino students have a close relative or a friend who is illegal. It's obviously a touchy subject.

No one wants family members deported. The solution is to secure the border to prevent illegals from coming here in the first place. After that we'll no doubt see a push for "comprehensive immigration reform," which is of course amnesty. The whole deal's a national charade where the "immigrant" groups pretend to be law-abiding future Americans and the U.S. government pretends to secure our national sovereignty from foreign invaders.

Clearly, the Orwellianism of it all has won the day. The "immigrant" family pictured at the New York Times shows a woman with the shirt blaring, "Immigration: Not a Crime." The law [on ILLEGAL immigration] says otherwise, sadly for her. Live a lie long enough and you get burned by your own deceit.

See, "Sweep Coincides With Delay on Deportation Policy Changes."

Sierra Swartz, 18-Year-Old Santa Barbara City College Student, Survived Elliot Rodger Murder Rampage

The story's at KEYT, "18-Year-Old City College Student Encountered Elliot Rodger Friday."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney Resigns

Well, the Shinseki firing's a big deal, but Carney out too!

Clearing of the crapweasels!

At the Hill, "Carney out as WH spokesman," and at Fox News, "Carney to step down as White House press secretary."

Carney & Shinseki gone in one fell swoop. Out: Friday D.C. document dump. In: Friday D.C. crapweasel dump.
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) May 30, 2014

When the Left Turned Against Free Speech — #LiberalFascism

From Matt Welch, at Reason, "The long, ugly journey from the Free Speech Movement to professors assaulting protesters":

On March 4, in a designated "free-speech zone" at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), associate professor of feminist studies Mireille Miller-Young walked over to a 16-year-old anti-abortion protester named Thrin Short and demanded that Short take down a graphic sign showing pictures of aborted fetuses. When Short refused, Miller-Young forcibly snatched the sign out of the smaller girl's hands, then handed it to her students and walked away triumphantly. The rattled teen accurately accused Miller-Young of being a "thief," to which the professor implausibly retorted: "I may be a thief, but you're a terrorist!" Adding injury to insult, Miller-Young then shoved the protester and barred her from entering a campus elevator. Moments later, the professor and her students cut the stolen poster to shreds.

The story gets worse. According to the ensuing police report, Miller-Young maintained that she had set a good example for her students by acting like a "conscientious objector" to offensive hate speech that had "triggered" her emotions and violated her "personal right to go to work and not be in harm." Many students, too, remained defiant about the assault long after tempers cooled.

"We, as students of UCSB, are in solidarity with Professor Miller-Young and urge our student body, staff, faculty, and community members to provide as much support as possible," reads a petition submitted by "UCSB Microaggressions" that as of press time had received more than 2,000 signatures, dwarfing a rival petition asking for the professor's ouster. "We do not condone the hate speech and media attention she has been actively receiving."

Our tale gets worse still. In an open letter to students on March 19, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Michael D. Young did not mention Miller-Young by name, did not address either the outrageousness of her actions or the inanity of her logic, and instead aimed most of his fire at "outsiders coming into our midst to provoke us, to taunt us and attempt to turn us against one another as they promote personal causes and agendas."...

Keep reading.

Matt Welch attended UCSB in the 1980s. You learn something new every day!

RELATED: At National Review, "UCSB Smears Pro-Lifers After Professor’s Attack on Pro-Life Student."

Common Core School Standards Face a New Wave of Opposition

A surprisingly good piece at the New York Times.

And at Twitchy, "Gov. Bobby Jindal pulls support of Common Core at #RLC2014."

More at CNN, "Jindal blasts Common Core at GOP conference."

Plus, Robert Stacy McCain is on the ground in New Orleans, "#RLC2014 N’Awlins, Y’all."

PREVIOUSLY: "The Anti-Common Core 'Barbarians at the Gate'."

‘Truth About CAIR’ Posters Vandalized in New York Subway Stations

The truth hurts, obviously.

At Pamela's:

The leading Muslim Brotherhood-tied organization in America, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), has deceived the media, cultural, and political elites in America for years, to the great peril of the American people.

But we’re fighting back. My organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), has placed “Truth About CAIR” posters on New York City subway platforms this week, including Times Square, City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge, Third Avenue, 44th Street, and 10 other stations.

Also, "Hamas-CAIR Thugs at Work: AFDI “Truth About CAIR” Ads Defaced with Anti-Semitic Vandalism":

Our “Truth About CAIR” ads were not up a full day when the Islamic supremacists, thugs, and Jew-haters were out in full destruction mode.

Truth to sharia adherents is like the silver cross to Dracula. Brutal.  But I printed up a stack of these posters, knowing how the destroyers operate. This ad is being replaced today, as will any other ad that is destroyed by these philistines.

I made an even bigger “Truth About CAIR” buy in other US cities. So Hamas-CAIR  better rent a bus. Road trip!

More here, "“Truth About CAIR” Awareness Ad Campaign Hits Washington DC Metro."

RELATED: From Robert Spencer, at Town Hall, "A Closer Look at CAIR."

Also, from Joe Kaufman, at FrontPage Magazine, "CAIR’s Hamas Co-Conspirator Associates," and "'Unindicted' Doesn't Mean 'Not Guilty'."

And at Michelle Malkin's, "Outrage: CAIR's war on Robert Spencer, Young America's Foundation."

Elliot Rodger Smiled Before Shooting, Says #UCSB Survivor Bianca de Kock

Lucky to be alive.

At ABC News, "EXCLUSIVE: Santa Barbara Killer Smiled Before Shooting, Survivor Says."

The YouTube clip is here, "Santa Barbara Survivor: 'He Smiles at Me and Just Starts Shooting'."

More at ABC, "Elliot Rodger's Ex-Roommate Reveals What It Was Like to Live With the Troubled Man."

Britain Prepares for War in 1940

At London's Daily Mail, "Those were the days: From England’s pubs to Sheffield’s steel industry and preparations for war - film archive reveals how life was in 1930s and 40s Britain."

China Hacking Deep, Diverse

At the Wall Street Journal, "Internet Spies Stretch Beyond Government, Offering Beijing Cover, Experts Say":

China's Internet espionage capabilities are deeper and more widely dispersed than the U.S. indictment of five army officers last week suggests, former top government officials say, extending to a sprawling hacking-industrial complex that shields the Chinese government but also sometimes backfires on Beijing.

Some of the most sophisticated intruders observed by U.S. officials and private-sector security firms work as hackers for hire and at makeshift defense contractors, not the government, and aren't among those named in the indictment. In recent years, engineers from this crowd have broken into servers at Google Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and top cybersecurity companies, former U.S. officials and security researchers alleged.

The Chinese have often told their U.S. counterparts they don't condone hacking but also that they can't police what they don't control, according to former U.S. officials. While it is possible Beijing makes this claim simply as an excuse for inaction—given its strict control of domestic Internet traffic—experts in the field, including former U.S. officials, say the Chinese hacking landscape is chaotic and hard to follow.

This structure brings "a political gain to being able to say 'we can't control all attacks,' " said Adam Segal, a China and cybersecurity scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "But I think there is a cost when hackers go after targets that are too sensitive or get involved in a crisis and the government can't control the signaling."

Sometimes freelancers appear to take orders from the military, at other times from state-owned firms seeking a competitive advantage, U.S. security firms say.  This diffusion of China's hacking activities underscores the challenge the U.S. faces in addressing what Washington considers economic espionage.

"Part of the consternation when we were pushing them was there is not complete knowledge of what's going on," said a former U.S. official, recalling cyber negotiations with China.

More.

Sheriff's Deputies Knew of Rodger's 'Disturbing' Videos But Did Not Watch Them

As I said over the weekend, we'd know more as the details trickled out. And here we go with more on the botched Sheriff's Department "welfare check" of Elliot Rodger.

At LAT, "Deputies didn't view Elliot Rodger's videos in welfare check."

Reporters Mock Doe-Eyed Jen Psaki for Saying Obama 'Doesn't Give Himself Enough Credit...'

She's precious.

At Nice Deb, "Video: Humble Obama Doesn’t Give Himself Enough Credit for All His Foreign Policy Successes."

And at RT, "'Kiev forces shooting at civilians': State Dept's Psaki has no concerns."

U.S. Economy Shrinks in First Quarter

From Katie Pavlich, at Town Hall, "Economy Shrinks in First Quarter of 2014: GDP Revised to -1 Percent."

Stop looking at @BarackObama's economy http://t.co/pYtj7rDVf5 @AceofSpadesHQ @instapundit @rsmccain @ali @AmPowerBlog pic.twitter.com/Z6bXzmTFct
— Evi L. Bloggerlady (@MsEBL) May 29, 2014

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to Buy Clippers for $2 Billion

Jeez, $2 billion?!!

Talk about sweetening the pot!

At the Los Angeles Times, "Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wins Clippers bidding war for $2 billion."

And at Instapundit, "I WITHDRAW MY EARLIER SPECULATION THAT DONALD STERLING WAS SUFFERING FROM DEMENTIA: Sources: Ballmer agrees to buy Clippers for record $2 billion. In fact, now I wonder if he set the whole thing up. He bought the team for $12 million."

Watch How Vastly Different West Point Cadets React Between Hearing Presidents Obama and Bush

Oh my goodness this is brutal, at the Independent Journal Review.

Previous "icy" Obama at West Point blogging is here.

#Democrat Bob Beckel Attacks Kimberly Guilfoyle, Slurring Her as "Treasonous'

At Expose Liberals, "Blob Beckel meltdowns yet again – calls Kimberly Guilfoyle treasonous."

Obama, Biden Pushing a 'New World Order'

At Breitbart, "Obama, Biden Promoting a 'New,' 'Changing Very Rapidly' World Order."

Desperate Democrats Looking Ahead to #Election2016

Remember Abby Huntsman? She's former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman's daughter.

Well, here she recycles leftist Politico reporter Todd Purdum's piece from last week, "How Republicans lose by winning":

It’s the predominant paradox of contemporary American politics: If Republicans prevail in this year’s midterm congressional elections, it will be because of their party’s sharp-edged stances on topics like abortion and Benghazi, Obamacare and immigration, gay marriage and the minimum wage — issues that energize the GOP’s core base of support.

But if Republicans lose the race for the White House in 2016, it will be because of their party’s polarizing, out-of-step stances on those very same issues, which alienate much of the broader electorate the GOP needs to win a national contest in a country whose demographics and political realities are shifting under its feet.

Look, 2016's a long way off, but I understand why leftists want to dwell on it now: The Democrats are going to take a savage beating in November, and the progressive brand --- which is literally imploding before our eyes, from public rejection of ObamaCare to bipartisan repudiation of the administration's foreign policy --- may not recover for a generation. Do Republicans have problems? Sure. But this leftist look-ahead is nothing more than political cognitive dissonance. They're being slapped in the face with the harsh reality of Democrat Party failure so it's soothing to think that they'll be saved by demographics in the next presidential election. And pathetically, even their demographic prognostications may not help. Traditional white voters (the bane of the Democrat coalition) have higher rates of turnout, constituting a larger share of the electorate than their proportion in the population, thus endangering the progressives even in presidential election years. (See National Journal, "Older White Voters Will Haunt Democrats All Year.")

Not only that, the Republicans could very well adapt to the demographic challenges they're facing, especially with younger voters (18-24 year-old Millennials despise President Obama) and Hispanics (whose warmth toward the GOP in Texas is seen as model for the national party.)

Of course, Republicans could blow all their natural advantages by nominating a candidate in 2016 who refuses to take the Democrats by the throat and kick them to the curb. Nice guys finish last, especially when the Democrats care about nothing more than raw power (literally no depth is too low for leftists, for which no character assassination can be vicious enough). You have to call their bullshit and destroy them.

The politics of desperation is all the Democrats have now and it's all they're going to have in 2016. Run strong candidates and fight them on the facts, and they will fold like a worn out accordion.

Obama Skipped a Few World Events in His Big Foreign Policy Speech at West Point

I missed this editorial Richard Engle mentioned in his comments I posted earlier.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Obama at West Point":

The speech President Obama delivered Wednesday at West Point was intended to be a robust defense of his foreign policy, about which even our liberal friends are starting to entertain doubts. But as we listened to the President chart his course between the false-choice alternatives of "American isolationism" and "invading every country that harbors terrorist networks," we got to thinking of everything that wasn't in his speech.

No mention of the Reset. "The reset button has worked," Mr. Obama avowed in a 2009 meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's figurehead president. That was the same year Mr. Obama announced in Moscow that, "The days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chessboard are over."

No mention of the Pivot or "rebalance" to Asia. This was billed by Hillary Clinton in 2011 as "among the most important diplomatic efforts of our time" and meant as proof that America's withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan wasn't simply a retreat from the world. But as assistant secretary of defense Katrina McFarland admitted in March, following the latest round of Pentagon cuts, "Right now, the pivot is being looked at again, because candidly it can't happen."

No mention of Mr. Obama's Red Line in Syria against the use of chemical weapons. No mention, either, of the ostensible success of using diplomacy to disarm Bashar Assad. The President was fond of boasting of this achievement until recently, when it emerged that Assad continues to use chlorine bombs to kill his enemies. Somehow that also didn't make it into the speech....

We know that no foreign policy speech can cover the entire world. But listening to Mr. Obama trying to assemble a coherent foreign policy agenda from the record of the past five years was like watching Tom Hanks trying to survive in "Cast Away": Whatever's left from the wreckage will have to do.

U.S. International Relations Have Not Improved Under Obama

What's amazing is that it's leftist NBC correspondent Richard Engel making the case.

At Free Beacon, "NBC Reporter: U.S. Relations Have Not Improved With a Single Nation Under Obama."



Also at NewsBusters, "NBC's Richard Engel: U.S. Relations Have Not Improved With a Single Nation During Obama Presidency." (At Memeorandum.)

University of California Seeks Increase in Community College Transfers

Good luck with that.

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "UC schools aim to enroll more community college students."

LBCC is ranked 53 among the state's community colleges, with 89 students transferring to a UC campus in 2012-13.